Heavenstruck (Guardian Angel AU)

Earthbound

Normalcy was relative.

That was probably why cars whizzing just a hair away from Dream didn't faze him anymore, and neither did the ungodly amount of kitchen fires he'd caused. He'd survived much worse, after all. No matter how dire a situation seemed, there was always something that protected him from certain death.

The vending machine fell over.

A truck sped through a stop sign.

A cyclist just managed to swerve before hitting him.

All was normal.

The shadow falling from the sky on the ruined path to his apartment was not.

Dream squinted at the shadow. Was... Was that hail? It never snowed in Florida, let alone hailed. It couldn't be.

Actually, it seemed more like a person, now that it was closer to him. But there was no way he'd be unlucky enough to witness this, right?

Then the figure—who was decidedly human after all—crashed into the ground in front of Dream, the dirt muffling what he was sure were various colorful words.

Well, at least now Dream knew how fate felt about him.

A person just fell from the sky... Maybe he should investigate that.

Dream stepped closer and craned his head down.

Now that he had time to look, the figure was a man with giant, white wings sprouting out of his back. The loose, white outfit he wore was tattered and littered with stains. A radiant, almost godly aura surrounded him. But where were his shoes? Were they somewhere in the forest?

His observations stopped when the man groaned and pushed himself up from the ground, rubbing his head. The outline of his body was imprinted into the dirt.

Then the man locked eyes with him.

No, Dream. Bad, bad idea. Don't do it. Just shut up and walk away.

"Hey," Dream said, "did you just fall from heaven?"

Silence.

A few giggles escaped from Dream's mouth.

God damn it.

Dream erupted into hysterical laughter, falling to his knees and holding his stomach. When he thought the laughter was over, he remembered the joke again and laughed even harder than before. Each look at the man's unamused expression triggered another almost inaudible wheeze from him.

"No, I crawled my way up from hell," the man spat with crossed arms.

Dream was still laughing, but he held his palms up. "Okay, okay, sorry. I just—I need a moment."

The man sighed as Dream continued his hysterical laughter but spoke again when his laughter began to die down. "Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a tea kettle?"

"A lot of people, actually," Dream said with a grin. He looked back up to meet the other man's gaze, and then it hit him.

A man with wings just fell out of the sky and crashed in front of him, and his first instinct was to make a shitty joke. It was storming; he was cold and wet and just wanted to get back home. But maybe he should be taking this situation a bit more seriously.

"What's with your wings?" Dream asked. "We don't have a lot of cosplay conventions down here."

Right. That was the first question he chose to ask.

The man scoffed. "You'd think someone would care more when they meet their guardian angel, but I guess not." His wings flapped, his right smacking into a tree and shaking a few leaves off the branch. It retracted back to his side in an instant. "And my wings are real. I'm not gonna let you touch them, of course, but you'll just have to believe me for now."